STUDENTS: Don't denounce efforts

To the writer of a recent letter to the editor (as well as to anyone who may have nodded their heads in agreement), who seems to imply that students are incapable of forming collective action groups out of their own convictions or concerns, let me unabashedly use myself and my fellow members of the North Idaho College Gay-Straight Alliance as a counterexample.

Last October, the Gay-Straight Alliance and several other students of the college (including myself, still fresh from my high school graduation), passionately and peacefully stood together on campus to counter-protest the egregiously tasteless Westboro Baptist Church. Professors were urged not to become involved with the situation, and the only voice heard decrying the "Church" was that of students. My own motivation drove me to be a part of probably one of the most important civil rights issues our city has seen in a while.

The actions of the students of Post Falls High School give me pride to call myself a part of Generation Y. I find it strange that anyone would chastise students - those who will soon replace those currently in important leadership roles - for doing something to change the world for the better. Would the older generations prefer our future adults to be taught to act only out of their own interests, and not for the benefit of future generations - for the preservation of our planet, our freedom, our happiness? If we do not imprint our youngest generation with the incentive to make life better (not read: lazier) for the children of the future, what can the human race hope for?

I credit Post Falls High School students as being living, breathing and especially thinking individuals, who do not simply assume the beliefs of teachers as their own because they are "impressionable" or "naive." Give credit to children, who are capable of forming their own opinions (although having and expressing one's opinions is apparently taboo). However, I cannot deny that I have been impacted by teachers and have been inspired by professors to take pride in myself and to work hard to achieve my goals in life. In a time when parents seem to lose sight of what parenting actually means, teachers are filling in. There is simply no computer in existence that holds the power to motivate and change the life of a child.

And please, don't punish the aesthetically gifted. It is not a crime to be sexy and neither is it a crime to appreciate handsomeness.

KAYLA BAKER

Post Falls